First Order
by Howl-At-The-Crescent-Moon
Summary: It's a man's world, and ShinRa's elite fighting force of SOLDIER is definitely not an exception. Despite the overwhelming prejudice against her, Hannah Tenofski signs up. DISCONTINUED, REWRITE IN THE WORKS!
1. Act One: Potential & A Warning

_Well, this is a Final Fantasy VII fanfic I started about two years ago, before I had much knowledge of the ever-expanding and clearing FFVII storyline. This story uses mainly my own theories about the inner workings of Shin-Ra, the Turks, and SOLDIER. Also, most of the characters will be OC's, as most of the familiar ones don't appear until later chapters...with the exception of one in this chapter. The category is subject to change, as I have difficulty placing things in their proper places. Without further ado, read on!_

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FIRST ORDER

**Act One**

**Potential (& a Warning)**

The Commander, dressed in red, paced back and forth in front of the fresh-off-the-bus cadets as he spoke.

"So, you've all made it this far. You've risen out of the muck known as the army and made it to the rank of SOLDIER cadet. Think your trials are over? Think again! You may think you've gone through Hell and back to get here, but let me tell you, haven't even seen the road leading to it yet!"

He paused in the middle of the line and surveyed them--all randomly-clad and as-yet uniformless--and then continued pacing.

"Of the one hundred of you, only thirty of you will even make it into SOLDIER. Of those thirty, only ten will make Second Class. Of those ten, only one of you will make it to First Class. Just one. And then that one will have to constantly prove himself so he doesn't get demoted back to Second or Third Class, which is what happens to most men who make it that far. Put simply, _one_ of you will have a _one in ten _chance of becoming First Class and staying there. Which means that the rest o' you stinking maggots' names will be forgotten, lost forever, and you'll all be failures. Harsh as that sounds, that's the reality of things here at the Shin-Ra SOLDIER Academy. If you're disheartened by the odds, then get your ass back on that bus, because you're not welcome here."

In the shadows of a nearby building, a man with short, spiky, dark-blue hair rolled his sapphire-colored eyes.

"He gives that exact same speech every year…"

"Never mind that," the man standing next to him said. He had shoulder-length, dark green hair tied back into a low ponytail and similarly colored eyes. "See any hopefuls, Aki?"

"Well, I can tell who the lost causes are. Numbers one through thirty have that look of hopelessness on them. Some of them'll be gone tomorrow. What about you, Jethro? Anything promising that you can see?"

"No, not really. Maybe none of--hullo, what's this?"

The Commander, who had walked to the end of the line, had stopped in front of the last cadet and was staring at them hard.

"…This is some sort of sick and tasteless joke, right?" the Commander said.

"I don't hear anyone laughing, sir," the cadet said, their voice clearly feminine.

The two men in the shadows jumped at the voice.

"Wh--…It can't be!" Aki gasped.

"Is she suicidal?!" Jethro said, shocked.

The Commander glared at the maroon-haired cadet.

"Listen, the Academy doesn't accept women. I don't care how you got here, who gave you the recommendation, or who you're related to, just leave. Now."

The cadet narrowed her brown-gray eyes into a death glare, but didn't move.

"I said LEAVE!"

"…blink," she whispered. She seemed to break up and disappear.

Aki and Jethro stared confusedly.

"What the hell was that?" Aki asked. Jethro just shrugged and continued to stare.

A third man, who had been silently leaning against the wall of the building, watched the action closely, almost expectantly.

Suddenly, behind the Commander, there was a glimmer in the air, and the cadet rematerialized where the glimmer had been. Then, with an attack so blindingly fast that not even the First Class SOLDIERS (Aki, Jethro, and the silent man) saw it, she pinned the Commander to the ground with one arm and began to cast some sort of spell in the other. The spell was a small black and red orb.

"That spell…'Death'…" Jethro shook his head. "Incredible…She's actually fought in enough battles to raise a Destruct Materia to its third level…Shit, I know First Classmen who haven't done that yet..."

Aki was struck speechless, as he was one of those First Classmen Jethro had been refering to, even though he had been in SOLDIER most of his adult life. The silent man remained silent, but raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in slight shock and respect. He continued to watch the scene intensely, as he was, for the first time in a long, long time, interested in something.

She continued to hold the spell, but she aimed it at the pinned Commander's head. He began to make a noise akin to a whimper.

"Does the Academy accept women now, sir?" she asked.

"Y…Y-Y-Yes…" the Commander stammered.

The candidate smiled and ended the spell without casting it and released him. Afterwards, she returned to her spot in line amid the stares of the other candidates.

Aki and Jethro were also staring. The third man stopped leaning against the wall and began to walk away. He stopped for a moment and looked over his shoulder at the other two First Class SOLDIERS, who were still staring speechlessly at the woman.

"…This one is promising," he said with a hint of a smile before continuing.

Jethro blinked and turned toward the other man, who was already climbing into the vehicle that would take him out of town for his next assignment.

"…Aki?"

"Yeah." Aki turned to face his companion. "I heard it. He actually opened his mouth and said something about one of the cadets. What's more, it was a _compliment_!"

"I've heard that, in all seven years that First Class-men have been coming to look for hopefuls, he's never said a word…Hmm…" Jethro smiled. "This could get interesting."

Aki watched the vehicle carrying the other First Class SOLDIER speed off. "…Or ugly," he added.

- - - - - -

The female cadet opened the door to Lambda Squad's barrack. A man old enough to be her grandfather looked up from his book, an ancient dog-eared tome wth a faded title reading "Of Mice and Men".

"…Guess you're lucky number thirteen…" he said dully before he continued reading.

A boy not a day over thirteen jumped off his bed and went to greet her.

"Hey! Welcome to Squad Lambda!" he said enthusiastically as he shook her hand.

"…Otherwise known as the Freak Show." This had come from a redhead who was sitting on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed on the far wall.

"…Or the Hopeless Troop," said the blond man sitting next to the redhead. The two of them had their hands linked. "So, what's your story?" he asked.

At her look of puzzlement, the extremely short man who was lying on the floor doing a seek-and-find looked up.

"Oh, you didn't know? They put you in Lambda if they don't expect or want you to make it because you don't fit their profile of a member of SOLDIER. All the hopefuls go to Alpha and Omega." With that, the dwarf returned to his seek-and-find.

The female cadet shrugged.

"Guess we'll just have to prove 'them' wrong then, won't we?" She surveyed the room. "So…what're you guys' names?"

The twelve men stared at her as if she had just dropped from the sky, so she explained, "If were going to be stuck in this skank-hole together, we should at least know each others' names."

"…"

The thirteen-year-old smiled. "Name's Robert Smithing, but you can call me Robbie. I guess I'm in here 'cause I'm only a kid."

The old man continued reading, and without looking up said, "Mitch Jones. I'm seventy-two."

"…Sakaguchi Jiro. And I'm a dwarf," the dwarf said.

"James O'Connell. Call me Jamie…They stuck me in here because I'm…" The redhead paused to choose a word. "…homosexual."

"And I'm Ashley Batiste III. Ash for short…I'm Jamie's lover," said the man Jamie was holding hands with.

A freakishly large man with black hair and a goatee who had been standing silently in the corner said, "…I'm Ivan. Ivan Marks. And I'm, in the words of our oh-so-kind Commander, a 'giant'."

"And I be Raine. Nickodemus Raine. But, since you don't follow the Dark Lord Zathor, you can call me Nick," a man in a fetal position said before he returned to his 'conversation' with 'Brother Constantine'. She blinked a few times, and then tried her best to ignore the loopy man.

A man with eyes that stared at everything but saw nothing said, "Tokioka Natori. Pleased to meet you."

A brunette with a notepad wrote, 'Nomura Seto. Excuse the notepad. I'm mute,' then showed it to her. After that he handed it to the person on the bunk below him, who, under what Seto had written, scribbled, 'And I'm deaf. Kitase Haku. PS, I can read lips, but I don't know sign language, so don't bother.'

A person with a blank expression slurred, "Danny…D.J…that's me…"

The cadet looked concerned; something was most definitely off about him. A man who had been standing next to her leaned in and whispered, "He suffered a severe case of mako poisoning when he was a kid, and he's never quite recovered. By the way, I'm Kosuke. Yamanaka Kosuke. I'm stuck in here because I'm not what one would call 'athletic'".

"So, who are you?" Jamie asked.

"Me? I'm Hannah. Hannah Tenofski. And I'm here for the obvious reason that I'm a woman." She looked around, her expression darkening as she did so. "That's odd…this barrack is designed for six people, but there's thirteen of us in here…"

"What's wrong with that?" Robbie asked.

"That means, even if we double up, someone gets the floor," Mitch said.

"……"

A light bulb appeared over Hannah's head.

"I'll go talk to the Commander."

"He's not gonna listen," Ivan said.

Hannah shrugged. "Then I won't let him sleep until he does listen."

With that, Hannah turned and left the grungey, one-room barrack.

- - - - - -

The First Class SOLDIER stirred, awakened by the sounds of an argument. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but the argument just drew closer and got louder. He growled and climbed out of bed.

_ Damn…I just fell asleep…_

He pulled on a shirt and grabbed his sword. He was going to slaughter whoever had started this argument.

He walked out of his private apartment, down the hall (he passed many other First Class-men and Officers who, like him, had been awakened by the disturbance, and, like him, were ready to tear meat), and down three flights of stairs.

Aki and Jethro, who shared an apartment and who were also awakened by the fight, met him at the doors that lead out onto the street. Aki carried a handgun, and Jethro carried a halberd.

"Woke you up, too?" Aki said groggily to the First Class-man.

"Who the hell _could_ sleep through this?" he said. He drew his sword and threw the scabbard to the side.

Jethro yawned. "I'm with you."

The three of them, the swordsman in the lead, walked out the doors and onto the mostly silent streets of Upper Junon.

The Commander was yelling at a cadet. The three moved closer to the fight so they could see what was going on. Then the cadet started yelling back.

Jethro blinked. "…It's her. The one you said was promising," he said to the swordsman.

"Oh, gods…" Aki mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

_ …That woman…What on Earth could they be fighting about this late at night?!_ The swordsman thought.

The Commander was trying to walk away, but she wouldn't let him.

_ For the love of HOLY, just drop it and let everyone get some sleep…_

Finally, the walking argument stopped in front of him. (Aki and Jethro backed off to get out of the range of their comrade's long sword, just in case he snapped and swung it.)

"What do you mean, suck it up?! I went to all the other squads' barracks, and none of them have this problem! Why the hell would you put thirteen people in a six-person barrack?!"

The First Class swordsman glared at the cadet.

_**That's**__ what this is about? Doesn't she know that they put too few beds in Lambda on purpose so they'll quit and save everyone's time and their own money?!_

The Commander rolled his eyes. "Listen, how many times do I have to tell you, it's **not my problem**!"

"Then whose problem is it?! Mine, for being born without testicles, or is it the Company's, for being cheap?!"

"Keep it down! People are trying to sleep!"

"Y'know what?! SO AM I! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIT THREE PEOPLE ON A SINGLE-SIZED BED!?!"

The female SOLDIER cadet took a moment to catch her breath, and then started yelling again.

"FINE! I'LL JUST GO AND TAKE THE EXTRA BEDS FROM THE OTHER SQUADS!!!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!"

"JUST WATCH ME!!!"

She turned and started to stomp off, but stopped and turned back to the Commander.

"DON'T THINK THAT THE COMPANY WON'T HEAR ABOUT THE DISCRIMINATION AND MISTREATMENT YOU GIVE TO ANYONE EVEN SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM YOU!!!"

That's when she noticed the First Class-man glaring at her with narrow eyes.

"AND WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GLARING AT!!?" she screamed angrily.

All of Junon fell silent. Those who had been watching the argument gulped in fear. The Commander made the sign of the cross.

The First Class-man clenched his fists. _Nobody_ talked to him like that. _**Nobody**_.

Aki and Jethro were silently glad they had backed away, for they thought that he was going to shred her into pieces with that abnormally long sword of his.

The seconds ticked by like hours. Finally, after a few tense moments and a silent glaring contest beween Hannah and the swordsman, the First Class swordsman scoffed and went back inside, where he picked up his scabbard before going back upstairs.

All the spectators released the breaths they had been holding in sighs of relief, and then went to bed themselves.

Aki and Jethro also relaxed, and then they followed their fellow First Classman and went back inside.

"That was close…" Jethro said.

"Told you it could get ugly," Aki said

When they were out of earshot, the Commander turned toward Hannah.

"You dumbass! You're lucky Sephiroth didn't kill you!" he hissed angrily.

At her look of confusion at the name, the Commander stared.

"Don't you know who he is?!" he whispered loudly, flabbergasted.

Hannah only looked more confused.

"…Should I?" she asked.

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_Okays, that's the end of Act One. I went through and added some extra details and changed a few other minor things, so this is different from the one posted on my dA. Anyway, I'll post the next Act soon, after I touch it up a little. I'd be happy to receive reviews, but please limit the criticism to being constructive. This is my first post on so please be gentle. Don't use my original characters without permission (if you ask to use them, I'll probably say yes anyway, so using them without permission would be pointless. :P). See you in the next Act!_


	2. Act Two: Round One The Game is On!

_Okay, it's time for Act Two. I may have to change the rating because of Hannah's potty mouth...But I'll take care of that later. Before I forget (I forgot the first time), a disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING, DON'T SUE. Now, pleas enjoy. ._

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First Order

Act Two

Round One (The Game is On!)

"You don't know who Sephiroth is? What dark hole have been living in for the last decade?" Jamie asked as he pulled on a shirt.

It was morning, and Squad Lambda was preparing for their first day of training.

"What? Is he supposed to be famous or something?" Hannah asked as she combed her shoulder-length hair.

"_**Duh!!!**_ Most people who are in SOLDIER now idolized him while they were still candidates for the Academy…he's been my hero since before I can remember," Robbie said, his eyes looking a little dreamy in admiration.

"…Why? What's so amazing about him?"

"It's said that he made Third Class in only a month, then skipped immediately to First at the next Ranking Test. No one had done that before, and no one's done it since. He aces every assignment like it's nothing, and wields a wicked-awesome sword and some cool Materia to boot."

"Yeah. The rumor is he's the most powerful person in the world," Ivan added.

Hannah gave a skeptical laugh. "That silver-haired princess? Gimme a break…"

"Watch it, Hannah. He's killed those that have crossed him before…my grandson was one of them," Mitch said.

The whole squad turned to their oldest member, who they already saw as their uncle.

"What happened?" Ash inquired.

Mitch stared off into space, collecting his thoughts, then began, "It was the day after my grandson made Third…When you make Third, they assign you a First Classman to serve under. He just happened to get paired with Sephiroth, who was famous even then. Thing is though, very few people ever saw him, so virtually no one knew what he looked like…"

Mitch cleared his throat and continued. "After they met, my grandson wasn't happy with his assignment. He couldn't stand taking orders from someone younger than him, and he told Sephiroth that. Sephiroth told him to get over it. My grandson, being who he was, just got angrier. The two of them got into an argument…I've had to piece together what happened from people who saw it happen, which was hard because everyone saw and heard something different. All I can tell for sure is that, at some point, my grandson insulted him somehow. After that, Sephiroth beheaded him without a word.."

The room was quiet as everybody thought about this, and then Jiro pointed something out.

"You don't seem too sad about it, Mitch."

Mitch smiled. "It happened ten years ago, and I've had time to forgive, forget, and get over it. Besides, old men can't hold grudges."

"…Ten years? Mitch, how old was your grandson when he died?" Kosuke asked.

The question went unanswered; a bugle blared a reverie, signaling that it was time to get out to the training field.

"Time to go…" Hannah said.

- - - - -

When all of the cadets met on the training field, they could tell that many of them had left during the night.

"Well, now ain't this sumthin'," the Commander said mockingly. "Only seventy-four left. The stakes are a lot higher now."

As the Commander was saying this, a disheveled-looking cadet came running out onto the field.

"My bad. Seventy-five…" The Commander turned on the new arrival. "Why the hell are you so late, dumbass?!"

"I overslept, sir!"

The Commander glared for a moment, then said, "What squad you in, kid?"

"B-beta, sir."

"Is that so?" The Commander turned toward the line of cadets. "Beta Squad, attention!"

The other members of Squad Beta stepped forward from the line, saying "Sir!" as they did, and they stood at attention.

"Tell me…Why did none of you bother to wake him up?"

"Because, sir, we're not his babysitters," their Squad Leader said.

"…'because you're not his babysitters'…" The Commander slowly shook his head, then said, "Alla ya, every member of every squad, drop an' gimme fifty."

All of the cadets stared at their Commander confusedly.

"NOW!"

Instantly, everyone dropped to the ground and began doing the push-ups.

The Commander began pacing up and down the line again. "You useless pack of ingrates missed the big picture! And, until you get it, I will work your sorry asses to the bone!"

The leader of Squad Omega looked down the line at Hannah and snickered, "Don't be doin' them _girl_ push-ups, now!"

While the rest of his squad and a few others were howling with laughter, Hannah locked eyes with Omega's Squad Leader. Then, not blinking or breaking the glare in any way, she lowered herself to the ground, put one arm behind her back, and raised herself up again. She began doing one-arm push-ups twice as fast as anyone else was doing the normal ones.

There was a silence, followed by a group,"…Daaaaaaaaaamn…"

"Way to go, Hannah!" Ash whispered from his position to her left.

"Yeah, you show 'em, Squad Leader!" Kosuke whispered from her right.

Hannah smirked. Maybe earning their respect wouldn't be so hard after all…

She was the first one done. "May I recover, sir?" she asked when the Commander passed by her.

He glared down at her and said, "After that stunt you pulled last night? Hell no. Give me a hundred more. And add on another fifty for disobeying me about the cots."

Hannah rolled her eyes and went back to her push-ups. Maybe forcefully taking the extra cots from the other squads wasn't the wisest decision, but it had helped her earn her place in Squad Lambda as their leader.

She lowered herself to the ground at seventy-five, switched arms, and continued. The other members of Lambda Squad looked concerned, but Hannah just smiled and shook her head. "I'll be fine, guys. I kinda deserve it, after all…" she whispered to them.

Even with all of the extra ones she had to do, Hannah finished her push-ups at roughly the same time as everyone else. The seventy-five cadets were given permission to recover, and all of them stood up.

"Good. Now that that's over, let's get to the point of our little gathering. Some squads will be assigned sponsors," the Commander said, still pacing. He stopped in the middle of the line and continued, "Squad sponsoring has been a tradition since the beginnings of SOLDIER. Groups of three First Classmen come and take a look at you slobs, and if they see any talent, they 'claim' you. It's sorta like high school all over again; the seniors 'own' certain freshmen. Once your squad has been 'claimed', there's no turning back; no squad changes, no sponsor changes…no quitting."

The Commander paused for effect, and then he started up again. "If your squad is being sponsored, you'll see very little of my hideous mug until the Ranking Tests. Those three First Class SOLDIERS will be your commanding officers, your bosses, your babysitters, your gods. You don't speak, eat, sleep, shit, or breathe unless they give you permission to. If you disobey them, they won't think twice about killing you, and they have every right to."

The cadets looked among themselves, murmuring to one another.

"I suppose that's enough of the bad stuff. Now for the reasons you would want your squad to be sponsored. They will give you insider's tips, secrets of the trade. They will train you harder than I am allowed to, so you will become stronger than you normally would. They will beat complex and powerful Materia combinations into your brain until using them becomes second nature, something you won't find me doing because I can't stand the stuff. They will, if they're feeling nice, give you support and encouragement, another thing you'll never get from me. If you make it into SOLDIER, no matter what rank you become, they will pay half of your tuition, whereas the members of squads not sponsored will likely have to take another job and work for years to pay it off. "

There was quite a bit of murmuring about this.

"Lastly, and best of all…" The Commander leaned in slightly. "All those who are currently First Class came from a sponsored squad themselves, with the exception of one. In other words, if your squad is 'claimed' today, you are much more likely to not only make it in, but to make it to the top."

The murmurs and chattering grew to an exited roar.

"Hannah, did you hear that?! If we get picked, we might make it into First!" Robbie squealed excitedly.

Hannah's expression darkened. There had to be a catch, besides the ones he said at first.

The Commander motioned for quiet and was given it. "Now hold on a minute. I never said all of you were getting sponsors. In fact, I never said _any_ of you are getting sponsors. First off, they only sponsor you if they see some talent. Number two, only three squads could possibly get sponsors, since only nine First Class-men will come and prospect for talent I don't think is here today. And for those of you still holding out hope, Alpha and Omega are usually the ones that get picked. If not them, Chi and Sigma. Those are the only squads that have ever been sponsored."

The chatter started up again, this time intermingling with sighs of disappointment.

"Aw, damn! Why the hell did he get our hopes up like that?!" Ivan said dejectedly.

"Well, they should start getting here soon…" the Commander said to himself, turning toward the gate. "…Perhaps that's them."

The gates were opening to let a car into the area. While the other cadets continued talking amongst themselves, Hannah watched the car. It was plain and gray, but she recognized it quickly.

…_A Junon 'Company' Taxi…Shin-Ra only…Must be a group of First Classmen. I wonder who they are._

The car pulled up to the Commander and three men got out. After they thanked the driver, the vehicle pulled off, revealing the identity of the three First Class SOLDIERS.

The chatter and murmuring died immediately.

"No fuckin' way…" Jiro said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"What? Who is it?" Natori asked, also whispering.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jiro whispered.

Even the Commander seemed startled for a moment or two. Then he cleared his throat.

"Well…I never expected you guys to sponsor…"

"We just wanted to get down here and lay a claim on the promising ones," said Aki.

"Yeah, we actually saw some potential yesterday," Jethro explained.

The Commander nodded. "So, what squad you guys want? Alpha? Omega?"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes into a glare at Hannah, who recognized him and matched it. Then he said, "Lambda."

There was a gasp of shock from the cadets. Some people looked ill, a few of the members of the named squad even looked ready to faint. But the Commander was the most shocked of all.

"B--...but Sephiroth, why?!"

Aki looked over at the members of Lambda Squad. "They may not look like much…but there's more potential in the thirteen of them than in all the other cadets combined."

"Plus, wouldn't it be great if the underdog came up to bite everyone on the ass later?" Jethro added.

"Besides…" Sephiroth said coldly, "There's nothing wrong with me wanting to sponsor my home squad." He continued to glare at Hannah, who was trying her hardest not to run up there and punch him. "…even if some of its members aren't what one would call agreeable working material."

"Yeah? Well _you_, Mister High-And-Mighty, can kiss my ass," Hannah said while flipping him the bird.

Sephiroth looked ready to kill her when Jethro put a hand on his shoulder. He turned toward him, and his comrade shook his head.

"It ain't worth it, Seph…"

After a moment, he calmed down. He then glared at Hannah again and said, "You're right. It would be a waste of soap to wash her blood out of my clothes." He turned and began to walk away.

Hannah let out a cry of rage and lunged for him, only to have her entire squad leap on her to hold her back.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?! Goddammit, get your candy-ass back here and fight, you fucking pansy!!!" she screamed at Sephiroth.

Either he didn't hear her or chose to ignore her and kept walking.

"Yeah, keep walking, chicken shit!!!" she screamed, struggling to get free. "Leggo a me, dammit!!!"

Jamie, the one doing the majority of the work holding her back, said, "Jesus, Hannah, calm down! You're our Squad Leader for heaven's sake, so act like it!"

The Commander rolled his eyes in disgust and turned to the two remaining First Classmen. "So, do you still want Squad Lambda?"

Aki laughed. "Are you kidding? We want them even more now! Not only do the members have untapped potential, their Squad Leader has the guts to pick a fight with Seph! These guys are goin' to the top for sure!"

"Bravery is one of the seven traits of a true member of SOLDIER. And, believe me, that woman has more balls than all the men in Junon. I'm sure she also shows the other six characteristics when she isn't pissed."

The Commander shrugged. "If you say so…"

The two of them nodded, and then turned and followed Sephiroth off the training field.

As soon as they were out of earshot, the members of Lambda Squad released their squad leader. Once freed, she roared in rage and began letting off a string of obscenities and curses directed at Sephiroth. After a few minutes of this, she calmed down somewhat, and she and the rest of her squad returned to their positions in line, with Hannah still fuming.

"…Lambda Squad, you are dismissed. Good luck, and may whatever god you worship have mercy on your souls; Sephiroth won't," the Commander said.

The thirteen of them saluted the Commander one last time, then turned and left the field, making their way back to their barracks.

Hannah was still furious, and was mumbling to herself the entire way there. "So my blood isn't worth soap, huh?! I'll show that faggot! When I'm done with him, he'll be begging for death!"

Suddenly something clicked within her.

…_Soap……I've got it!_

A perfect plan for revenge formed in her mind then. It wouldn't take much--just a few gil to cover 'supplies', a short trip into town, a little bit of internet research, and extreme stealth skills and courage. And the courage and stealth, Hannah had in excess.

While the rest of Squad Lambda relaxed back at the barrack, Hannah grabbed her wallet and made her way into the business section of town.

It didn't take her long to find an internet café, her first stop. She went inside, ordered a cappuccino, and looked for an open computer that was far away from the others. She found it (the one in the far back on the right-hand side from the door, where there was no way she would be disturbed by either the staff or other customers), and sat down to get to work.

Once her research was complete and her cappuccino gone, she left the café and headed to her next destination, putting the information she had copied down on a napkin into her pocket. She quickly found the Junon Beauty Supply and went in. After browsing the shelves for a minute or two, she found what she wanted and purchased it.

Next, she made way to a tool store, and, after that, an 'alternative' clothing store. After putting all of her purchases in one bag, she decided to head back to the barracks, whistling a cheerful tune while she walked. Now all she had to do was wait for nightfall.

- - - - -

All was silent in the training camp. Hannah, in full ninja garb (her 'alternative clothing' purchase), quietly stole out of her squad's barracks and slunk off down the street, blending into the darkness.

Maybe the ninja garb was a bit extreme, but, if she got caught, it'd be the end of more than her days as a SOLDIER cadet. Besides, maybe if she got caught wearing this, they would blame it on her being insane, and let it slide.

She pulled out the napkin from the internet café, and read the information she had written on it. In her neat print was written, 'Apartment #313, Building 7'. Under this was a sketch of Building 7, a three-floored apartment complex reserved for Officers and First Classmen. According to the sketch, 313 was on the third floor, and the bathroom window faced the alley between Building 7 and Building 8, which was reserved for Shin-Ra managers, Shin-Ra Department heads (or, as Hannah called them, 'the suits'), and the Shin-Ra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, if they happened to be in town. It also made note of the fact the occupant kept their window unlocked.

She put the napkin back into her left pocket, then continued down the street. After she counted seven apartment buildings, she found the alley between the seventh and eighth buildings and tiptoed into it. After referring to the sketch once more, she moved beneath the specified window and started to climb the brick wall, making sure to avoid other windows so as not to be seen.

And her parents had told her that her almost-freakish ability to climb walls was a useless skill. If only they could see her now…

She finally made it to the window she wanted, grabbing onto the windowsill to keep from falling. Carefully, she used one hand to reach into her back pocket while the other held on to the windowsill. She found the crowbar she had brought with her (her purchase from the tool shop), which she transferred to her mouth. Then she hoisted herself up until she was balanced on the windowsill without having to use her hands to hold on. Working as quickly and silently as she could, she pried the window open with the crowbar (since there was no way to open it from the outside, even if it was unlocked) and slipped inside.

The bathroom was clean and smelled slightly of soap, and the walls, ceiling, and floor were white.

She knew that this was 313 from the white (the internet had shown pictures). Now to see if the correct occupant lived there.

Hannah crept out of the bathroom and wondered what to do. She didn't want to check the bedroom; it would be suicidal if she was right and rather foolish if she was wrong. Instead, she made her way to the living room.

She scanned the sparsely furnished room and quickly saw the proof she needed--a sword longer than she was tall was lying near the door in its scabbard.

_Yup…This is the right place. The almighty internet has proved to be correct yet again._

She moved unseen back to the bathroom. Once there, she put the crowbar back in her back pocket and pulled her beauty store purchase out of her right pocket.

It was a small, brightly colored bottle with a colorful label. The label read, in large, bold letters, "**SCRUB-IN**". In smaller letters under this, it read, "The color you simply scrub in like shampoo! Results in as little as five minutes! Guaranteed to last at least 30 days, even with daily washing!"

Hannah smirked as she turned the bottle around to read the instructions, which, like the label, were easy to read in the dark because of the bright colors.

_Lesse here…'Simply mix with your regular shampoo, wash your hair like you normally would, and rinse. Towel dry. Color will appear in as little as five minutes.'…Sounds easy enough…_

She found a half empty bottle of shampoo in the shower. She grabbed it, unscrewed the top, and set it down on the edge of the sink. Then she opened the bottle of Scrub-In, and began the task she had set out to do.

She poured the whole bottle of dye into the shampoo, screwed the top back on, and began to shake it vigorously to mix it.

There was a heart-stopping moment when she thought she heard movement from another room. After a few moments of nothing, she quietly sighed with relief.

_Phew_…_Guess he just tosses and turns…I better finish up and get outta here before he has to use the toilet or something…_

When she thought the shampoo and the dye were thoroughly mixed, she pocketed the empty bottle of Scrub-In and put the shampoo back where she found it.

Then, being careful not to make a peep, she went back out onto the windowsill. She closed the window behind her, then leapt down to the ground. After a graceful and silent landing, she moved quietly back to her squad's barracks. Unfortunately…

"Kosuke! What're you doing up so late?" she asked as casually as she could when she walked in and saw him sitting on his bed staring at the door (and now her).

"…What's with the get-up?"

"Huh?"

She had forgotten she was wearing the ninja garb.

"Oh, this? I was just, uh…well, it's after curfew, and I wanted to take a walk, so…"

"'Take a walk', my ass." He held up some small slips of paper. "I found these receipts in that bag you brought back from town. It says you bought ninja garb, a crowbar, a cappuccino at an internet café, and some hair dye. You're up to something, Hannah, and I know it."

"Why were you snooping around in my stuff, anyway?"

"I was worried you might be out there exacting a revenge that could get us all in deep shit. And, from what I can gather, I had a right to worry. Hannah, please don't tell me you did something stupid…"

Hannah smiled.

"You'll see in the morning."

- - - - -

Sephiroth slowly opened his eyes and saw blurry darkness. He blinked a few times to make his eyes focus and glanced at the clock. It read 4:29 A.M.

After stopping the alarm before it went off, he sat up and stretched.

_Let's see…Today's Friday…Normally, today would be a free day…Guess not anymore, now that I'm a squad sponsor…_

He got up and walked across the hall to the bathroom. He turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature of the water, stripped, and got in.

Nothing like a nice, semi-cold shower to wake up.

He washed his hair, which was no small feat considering he had so much of it.

_Why don't I just get a buzz cut like everyone else around here?_ he asked himself as he scrubbed. Then he answered himself.

_Because then I'd be like everyone else. Not that I haven't always been different, anyway…Oh, well, no point in getting depressed. I don't need to give myself a headache; I'm sure Miss Squad Leader will gladly do that for me,_ he thought bitterly. _It's too bad she's such a bitch…She has so much promise…_

When he was done rinsing, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. After getting a towel out of the closet, be began to dry himself. Once that was done, he opened the mirrored medicine cabinet and got out a comb to set about the monumental task of drying and combing his hair.

It was while he was doing this that he found something was horribly wrong.

He held some of his hair in his hand, not believing what he was seeing. He quickly closed the medicine cabinet to use the mirror, to make sure his eyes weren't tricking him. He stared in numb shock.

Every inch of every strand of his long, flowing hair was a violent shade of pink.

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_Mwahahahaha. That was cliche, I know, but it was sooooo in-character for Hannah that I couldn't resist. The next Act will be a little slow in coming because I haven't finished it yet. However, I tend to write faster when people give me compliments...winkwinknudgenudge Before I go, I'd like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to the person who liked this story enough to add it to their "alert" list, whose name regretfully escapes me at the moment. Domo Arigato! bows deeply_


	3. Act Three: Round Two Payback's A Bitch

_Act Three! YAY::dances:: I know I said this would take a while, but you guys inspired me. XD_

_I'm going to shut up now and let you read. As for disclaimers, I still own nothing, so don't sue._

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First Order

Act Three

Round Two (Payback's a Bitch)

Just after 4:45 A.M., the whole Lambda Squad was awakened by a knock on the door. Well, 'knock' wasn't the best word--it was more like an urgent banging.

"Huh..? Wha? Are we under attack?" asked a groggy Nick as he rolled out of bed.

The banging intensified, and was joined by a shout of, "For the love of Shiva, open the damn door!!!"

Robbie, whose bed was closest to the door, quickly stumbled forward and unlocked it as Hannah was sitting up.

Jethro, with hair down, burst into the barrack, pushing past Robbie and the others and coming to stand in front of Hannah's cot. "You!" He said while pointing at her accusingly. "It was you,wasn't it?!"

Kosuke groaned and buried his face in his hands. The others were confused.

"Sir, what's going on?" asked Ash, but Hannah's chuckle stopped Jethro from explaining.

Knowing full well what he was talking about, she said, "I take he doesn't like the new look?"

"He's furious! He's ready to kill someone, anyone!! You've just put all of Junon in danger!!!"

Hannah shrugged. "That's just too bad. He shouldn't have insulted me."

At this point, Aki appeared in the doorway, his hair not in its usual spikes.

"Everyone outside, now!" he ordered.

The twelve male members, still in pajamas, boxers, and other sleeping apparel, quickly filed out of the doorway as instructed, and Jethro followed them to get them lined up. Hannah stood up and stretched, thankful she had slept in the cadet's uniform. She tried to follow her squad out, but Aki stopped her.

"Before you die, I want an explanation," he said.

"Where I come from, you don't get even with someone who crosses you. You do them one better--he insulted me, I humiliate him. That's the way I do things."

Aki just shook his head. "You keep telling yourself that if it helps ease the pain of death."

Hannah shrugged again. "Whatever. You're the one that asked for an explanation."

She finally went to join her squad, who were standing at attention on the street outside. She had to suppress a laugh; they looked utterly ridiculous, standing at attention in their pajamas. _At least no one sleeps in the nude._ She took the leader's position, the far left. Jiro looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"Hannah-san, what have you done?"

"Nothing I regret doing," she said confidently.

Aki soon joined Jethro, who was standing in front of the groggy Squad Lambda. Seeing them both, Jamie asked, "Can someone tell us what the hell is going on?"

He was answered by silence. He was getting ready to ask Hannah when Aki looked over to the left.

"Oh, Seph, you're here…" he said.

The whole squad turned to see and had to cover their mouths so they wouldn't laugh. Not Hannah, though. She was laughing so hard she was kneeling over.

Sephiroth, now with almost-neon pink hair, approached the squad, saw Hannah laughing, and drew his sword. "I _knew_ it was you!" he hissed menacingly.

"Aw, but you look so adorable!" Hannah mocked. "Pink looks good on you, 'Sephy'!"

Even Aki and Jethro had to bite back laughter at the nickname. The rest of the Lambda Squad was having difficulty holding it in.

Sephiroth, feeling both humiliated and enraged, growled, "I order you to shut up, Tenofski!"

"Why don't you fly over here and make me, fairy-boy?" she challenged.

He couldn't take it anymore. With a shout of anger, he lunged at her, but she sidestepped it.

"Child's play!" she boasted.

He quickly turned and swung at her, causing the rest of the squad to scatter. She simply did a quick backwards leap and 'tsked'.

"Pathetic. My grandma could do better blindfolded!" she jeered.

Aki and Jethro ushered Squad Lambda to safety while Sephiroth snarled and fired off a powered-up Firaga at her, which she easily dodged.

"Come now, Sephy, you wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" Hannah laughed.

She expected the Blizzaga spell he sent next, so she also dodged it.

"…you _couldn't_ hit a girl…"

The fight continued, Sephiroth attacking in his blind rage and Hannah dodging.

"You can't keep this up forever!" he shouted.

"Yeah?! Neither can you, pretty boy!"

Suddenly one of Hannah's back-steps landed her with her back pinned against the brick wall of a building. She shook her head, turned, and dashed down the alley, only to find herself face to face with another brick wall. A dead end…she'd trapped herself. _Fuck…_

She turned to face him, back to the wall. _Maybe I could jump over him…no, he'd expect me to try that. Damn! I need a weapon!_ She scanned the alley, but found nothing--not even trash. _Leave it to Shin-Ra to have a perfectly clean town…_She had no choice but to wait for a chance to get by him now.

Sephiroth, noticing her predicament, smirked. He began closing in slowly, watching her eyes all the while. He was waiting for the fear to show up in her eyes, waiting for her to begin begging for mercy.

But she never did. Her eyes were still bright with the light of defiance, and she only looked more determined than ever.

He glared at her and said, "Let's see you dodge this." He raised his sword and swung.

Before he could finish the swift motion, he heard the sound of metal on metal, and his vision flashed white as a powerful jolt of electricity coursed though his body. It took all he had not to cry out, and, realizing where the shock was coming from, he forced himself to drop his sword. He collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping for air as his vision slowly returned to normal.

A young man with longish spiky red hair that was tied back in a low ponytail now stood in front of Hannah. He was wearing a black suit, but the jacket was open, the shirt was untucked, and the first three buttons were undone. His eyes were the color of the Lifestream, and a pair of goggles rested on his forehead. He had a metal nightstick with a red button on the handle--the infamous Electro-Magnetic Rod (EMR, for short)--in his left hand.

Seeing this, Sephiroth knew what had happened--this man had blocked his sword with the rod and hit the button, which sent a powerful electric shock through his sword to him. And only one person knew how to handle that rod so well.

Reno, the newest member of the Turks.

Reno turned to Hannah. "You okay, Hannah?"

"I'm fine," she said

"That's good," the redhead stated. "I was worried."

Sephiroth, still too weak to stand, glared up at the Turk. "Reno, you son of a bitch…" he panted.

Reno returned his attention to Sephiroth, shrugging. "Gotta protect our investment," he said.

"Investment?"

"Who do you think gave the recommendation? Santa Claus?"

Sephiroth knew she must have had help getting here, but he didn't know it was anyone from the Company. "So, this THING is the Turk's new pet project?"

The redhead tapped the rod on his shoulder a few times before saying, "Call her what you want. You may not think she's gonna make it to the top, but Rude, Tseng and I do. That's why we're payin' for her tuition out of our own pockets. It would break our hearts to hear something happened to her, and you know I get violent when I'm depressed…"

"Will you stop tap-dancing and get to the point, Turk?"

"Fine, I will. If you _ever_ try to hurt her again, I'll crank up the voltage, and I won't stop after a second or two. I might even use a Water spell beforehand."

A Turk? Threatening _**him**_?! Who did he think he was?! "You wouldn't dare, Reno. You don't have the authority."

"Hmph. Is that so?" Reno walked over to the downed Sephiroth and kicked him hard in the stomach to knock him over. He pinned the First Class SOLDIER to the ground and aimed the EMR at his heart.

"One little jolt," the Turk said in a low voice. "One small shock right _here_," he poked Sephiroth in the heart with the tip of the rod, "Is all is would take. They would blame it on a heart attack caused by stress and pressure. Now tell me again…" Reno pressed the button, and sparks began to run up and down the rod, filling the air with a low, steady hum. "That I 'don't have the authority'."

Sephiroth, knowing the redhead was right, kept silent.

Reno smirked. "That's what I thought." He stood up and released Sephiroth, also letting go of the button. The humming died away, and Reno turned to Hannah again.

"Mind if I walk you back to your barracks?"

"It's just a block or two. I can manage," she said.

Reno gave her the 'puppy dog eyes'. "Please, Hannah? Humor me?"

Hannah laughed at the face, then said, "Alright, if you insist."

The Turk held out his hand. "Shall we, then?"

Hannah took his hand (albeit hesitantly) and they walked past Sephiroth (who was just now standing up) to the entrance of the alley. That's when Reno seemed to remember something.

"Oh, Sephiroth, by the way…" He turned to face the SOLDIER. "I love the color job, yo. Pink really suits you."

- - - - -

Reno settled down into the computer chair in his Junon apartment to begin typing up his report.

_I'll just make it short and sweet. Not much to say anyway._

'Day three of "Mission: Guard".'

He paused to find a simple way to say what he had to, then began to type again.

'Morning hour, approximately 0600 hours. Subject attacked by SOLDIER id no. 000190. Forced to intervene. Reasons for the attack are currently unknown, but the possibility of revenge for a prank is strong, as 000190 now has an unnatural hair color. Didn't have opportunity to question either the subject or SOLDIER 000190.'

Reno stopped, wondering if that was enough to satisfy Tseng. _HOLY, I hope so…_ He stretched. _I hate writing reports…_

Tseng had been forcing him to type all of his reports recently, complaining about his 'chocobo scratch' handwriting. _Wonder why it matters now. He's never cared before…_

But he already knew why. Tseng had to call in a lot of favors and make a few threats to get Hannah into the Academy. Now, because of that, the higher-ups in the Company were putting a huge amount of pressure on him to make sure putting her in was a wise choice. And when his boss was under pressure, Reno was under pressure.

Praying the paragraph was enough, he saved it, emailed it to Tseng (a.k.a. and went to flop onto the couch. If today was any indication, his job was gonna be a lot harder from now on.

MEANWHILE…

Ping!

"You've. Got. Mail," the desktop computer's voice droned.

"Hmm? An email this early? I wonder what this could be about…" a man with long black hair said to one of his superiors over the speaker phone.

"It probably concerns the girl. The word here in the remote headquarters is that she made quite a splash in Junon," the gravelly, cold-sounding voice said monotonously.

"Is that a positive or negative thing?" the one with black hair asked as he opened his email program. He saw that it was from Reno (a.k.a. meaning it had to be about the maroon-haired Amazon, as he called her.

"For us? A positive thing. For the rest of the Company?…Time will tell. Well, Tseng, what has happened that warrants an email at approximately 0600 hours?"

Tseng was quiet as he read Reno's report, then groaned, "Of all the worst possible enemies for her to make…She's gotten on SOLDIER I.D. Number 000190's bad side. He's already tried to kill her, and she hasn't even been there a full three days yet!."

"So our predictions were correct. We figured she would rub Hojo's greatest accomplishment the wrong way--they're far too similar to be able to get along."

"Similar? I was under the impression that Sephiroth was one of a kind."

"He was supposed to be…That's why she must become a part of the Company's military force; she's too dangerous to let roam the world. What would've happened if we had let her get away that day in the Gongaga Jungle? She would've resented us for what we had done to that little nameless village, and she would've found a resistance group to join. Could you imagine a resistance group with another Sephiroth in their midst? The Company would fall in a heartbeat, and you know it as well as I."

"So…you weren't exaggerating when you told me she could become Sephiroth's equal with enough training and discipline."

"Tseng, you've known me since the day you got off the boat from Wutai with dreams of making it big in Midgar. Have I ever exaggerated?"

Tseng gave a miniscule smile at the memories. "No, sir, you have not."

"Good. Now, back to our previous conversation…Can your redhead handle things all by himself?"

"I believe him capable, sir. Otherwise, I would not have chosen him for the task."

"That may be so, Tseng, but now that Hannah has crossed Sephiroth, it might be wise to allow me to send one of my comrades to assist him."

"…Perhaps you're right. Which comrade of yours do you have in mind?"

After a moment of silence, which Tseng assumed to be thought, his superior responded, "Ice. He knows what he's doing, and he won't stick out too much in a town like Junon."

"As you wish…Reaper."

- - - - -

Sephiroth punched the wall of his friends' private quarters again, reopening the cuts on his knuckles for the umpteenth time. "That little punk…the nerve to threaten ME…" he hissed in anger.

"Please calm down, Seph," Aki pleaded. "You have to remember that, even though you could kick his ass any day of the week, he's higher up on the food chain than you are."

"And because the Turks and Ifrit-knows-who-else is investing their time and money on her, Hannah may as well be considered higher-ranking too. If something did happen to her, they would have every right to kill you," Jethro said.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes in frustration and punched the wall yet again.

"C'mon, it'll wash out eventually…" Aki said soothingly, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"That's not what's bothering me anymore, Aki…" Sephiroth said quietly, calming down a little.

After a few minutes of silence, Jethro got a look on his face that would have been perfect for a cartoonist to stick a light bulb over. "…Do her one better."

"Come again?"

Aki caught on to what Jethro was saying.

"Get her back! I mean, more than one can play her game, right?!"

"Yeah! You may not be allowed to break her body…"

Comprehension dawned on Sephiroth's face. "…But I CAN break her spirit! I've got to find a way to humiliate her more than she humiliated me!"

"That's the idea. The only question is how."

There was another silence, broken only by the occasional sounds of construction and repair to the street outside. Hearing these sounds gave Sephiroth an idea, and a wicked smile slowly spread across his face.

"Uh-oh. I know that look. What're you plotting?"

His smile only widened. "Just wait and see."

- - - - -

Hannah, after explaining the 'miracle' of her survival to the rest of her squad, flopped onto her cot, rubbing her growling stomach to silence it.

"Guys, can we go get some breakfast? I'm starving."

"Hang on a sec. You expect us to believe that the Turks came and rescued you?" Kosuke said skeptically.

"Turks?" She sat up, looking confused. "Odd. Reno and his friends don't strike me as being from Turkey…"

"No, that's just their nickname…And where on Gaia is this 'Turkey'?" Ivan asked.

"Never mind, Ivan. Why is it so hard to believe that Reno came and helped me?"

"Because he's a Turk. Unless…" Mitch trailed off.

Robbie gasped, "Unless they scouted you as a hopeful?!"

"If saving their butts from a couple of Ghagigandhis counts as them scouting me, then yes, they scouted me. Can we pleeeeeaaaaase drop it and go get something to eat?"

"But that wouldn't have been enough proof of her potential…" Ash pointed out.

"That's very true…" Jamie agreed.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Hannah whined.

"Then what could've happened to make the Turks take such an interest in her?" Natori asked.

Hannah couldn't take it anymore. "Fine! You all want to know what happened?! I rescued Reno and his buddy Rude, then went and saved a village from a bunch of weird people, those weird people said I was special or something like that, and their leader Reaper called the leader of the Turks and told him that I was worthy to be in the Academy! There!!! Now for Bahamut's sake can we get something to eat?!?!"

Her squad went dead silent and stared at her.

"…What name did you just say?" Jiro whispered fearfully.

"Um…Reaper?"

All of the men drew back, as if in terror.

"What? What the hell is up with you guys?"

"You don't know who he is, either? He's the commander of this super-secret unit called PRIME. If you survived an encounter with PRIME, it's no wonder the Turks took an interest in you."

"PRIME? I don't know anything about that. I just know that all that was left of their group was the officers by the time I was done with them."

They gasped in shock. "YOU defeated PRIME's troops AND survived an encounter with its officers?! What the hell ARE you?!?!" Ash asked in awe.

Hannah looked a little sad. "I wish I knew…I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so damned special…the rest of my family is just like me. Sure, I'm a little more outgoing and a tad more aggressive than they are, but still…I don't get why I'm considered a freak for being able to do the things I do…"

Instantly the others regretted bringing up the subject.

"Aww, Hannah…We didn't mean to make you sad…" Nick said in a rare moment of coherence.

"The crazy dude's right. We're just surprised and happy that you lived, that's all, " Robbie said reassuringly.

"One…one of us…" D.J. slurred.

"……Thanks, you guys. So, what is so special about this PRIME thing?"

"All we know for sure is that they're superhuman and uber-tough. The rest is a mystery," Mitch explained.

Hannah was about to ask another question when her stomach growled loudly, reminding her and everyone else of her hunger.

'Let's get you some breakfast, Hannah,' Seto wrote on his notepad.

"Yeah…Yeah, let's do that," she said, smiling.

- - - - -

The darkness of the night once again blanketed the port city of Junon. A figure crept towards the barracks of the Lambda Squad, making not a sound. The figure kept stopping to stir the substance in the bucket he carried under his arm. When the figure reached the door, he brushed his once-silver-and-now-pink hair out of his face, then he focused and cast Sleepel on the whole building. When he was certain that all the occupants were asleep, he opened the door and slipped inside.

His target wasn't hard to find; Her shock of maroon hair contrasted well with her white pillows. He stirred the substance once more and walked over to her.

_Payback time, bitch,_ he thought as he popped his knuckles. It was time to get to work.

- - - - -

The next morning, Hannah awoke feeling lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous. Some sort of foul-smelling fume was making her sick.

"What the fuck…?"

Everyone else was stirring awake. Robbie, as usual, was the first one out of bed. He was in the middle of saying his daily "Good morning!" to Hannah when he saw that something was terribly wrong.

"Oh, Hannah, your hair…"

"What…about…my hair?" she said, still feeling ill.

Ash was the next one to see her.

"Is that…Is that tar?!"

Hannah reached up and felt where her hair was supposed to be. It was sticky and semi-solid. She collected some of the sticky stuff on her fingers and brought it to her face so she could examine it.

It was, indeed, black road tar.

She smiled.

"Well done, Sephy. I fully acknowledge you as a worthy opponent, now that you know my game. However…" Her eyes narrowed into the death glare that was becoming her signature action. "…This means war."

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_w00T! End of Act Three! I know some of you must be asking yourselves "What the heck is PRIME?" Don't worry, all will be revealed in good time. Now, seriously, the next chapter will take a bit, b/c I have school and stuff. But, since I'm inspired, it won't take months or anything ridiculous like that. Well, see ya next time! _


	4. Act Four: WIP

_Oh my gosh, I am soooooooo sorry for making this so ungodly late, and not even finishing it! I just got really busy with school and haven't had time to work on it! While I try to gear up for midterms and whatnot, here's what I have of "Act Four: Reminisce (Something Wicked This Way Comes)". This is where you get to see where Hannah came from and why she acts the way she does. I have to thank all the people who gave me reviews and constructive criticism, becuase you all inspired me to show Hannah's weaker side. Also, the mysterious PRIME unit makes a much more significant appearance. I'll shut up and let you get to reading now. Enjoy!_

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Act Four

Reminisce (Something Wicked This Way Comes)

Steam filled the shower room, one of the many facilities that all squads, sponsored or not, shared. Hannah was alone--everyone else was already on the training field, except for her squad, Squad Alpha, and Squad Omega, who were on the reserved training field getting a small taste of what was to come. Though a little lonesome, she was glad for the privacy as well, for she knew the male cadets, seeing her (the only female in the entire compound) naked, would be on her like flies on manure.

Wisps of her maroon hair floated down to the off-white, tiled floor. She had saved what she could from the clutches of the road tar, but it wasn't much. Most of the tar had already dried before she even woke up, so the only way to get it out was with a shining pair of scissors and a lot of elbow grease. She dropped the scissors after a moment to see if she was finished mutilating her once-beautiful locks.

She ran her fingers through the scant remnants of her hair, making sure she had gotten all of that vile black substance. Satisfied that she had, she turned the showerhead on again and stepped under the almost-too-hot water. She absently watched the hair that was once hers circle the drain and disappear while she let the water rush over her, triggering memories of home and how she had gotten into this situation in the first place. She tried to block those thoughts, but failed miserably, and sank to her knees with a sob.

'_Pathetic…'_ she thought to herself as she wiped away the sudden onslaught of tears. '_Here I am crying over a haircut and running water. Get a hold of yourself, Hannah. Yes, it may have been the second haircut you've had in less than two weeks, but you have to be strong. You have to stay strong or you'll never get to go home again…'_

'_Home…I wonder if everyone's noticed I'm gone yet. I'm sure Matron and Patron know what's going on--they know everything. I hope they don't worry about me too much…I've got to find a way to contact them, to let them know I'm alright…But for now, there's not much I can do. Guess I'll just have keep on slugging and wait things out.'_

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the cold tile, relaxing and letting comforting thoughts of home take over…

Running water, gushing and gurgling and splashing…

_The river. She knew it well; it was the center of her life, and the life of her family. It gave them water and fish, provided them a place to wash themselves and their clothing, acted as a pointer should they lose themselves in the dense jungle, and was a big game magnet._

_Hannah was there today for the latter. Crouched in the bushes near the bank with her handmade spear at the ready, she crept silently toward the back of the largest Ghagigandhi she had ever seen, perfectly open to attack while it drank from the life-giving blue waters of the river. Just one of those lizards would feed the whole family for a week, and this huge one would surely last twice that long. Her mouth was watering just thinking about it. Ghagigandhi stew, Ghagigandhi kabobs, roast Ghagigandhi…_

_Suddenly a human shout of surprise ripped through the mostly-silent air, causing her target to look up with curiosity. Hannah stiffened and went stock-still so as not to be seen or heard. After a moment, the creature went back to its leisurely drinking._

_She was torn with what to do next. It was now or never for the Ghagigandhi, but that shout had chilled her to the core; she hadn't recognized it. She could only recall one time in which Outsiders had gotten this deep into the jungle, and it hadn't ended well for that poor biologist and his crew. If she did nothing, the one who had called out would surely be dead soon._

_After a moment of consideration, she crept away from the riverbank and took off in the direction the voice had come from, her long maroon hair streaming out behind her. She regretted giving up such a large kill, but she knew she would regret it more if something happened to the Outsiders (she knew there had to be more than one--she had always been taught that Outsiders usually traveled in groups). If anything happened to them, Patron and Matron had said, more Outsiders would come to find the lost ones. If more came, more could get hurt, and, more importantly, they could find her family's Fountain. _

_She never quite got why Outsiders finding their Fountain would be a bad thing. If more people knew about it, she thought, then more people could use it and benefit from it. Whenever she offered that theory to Matron and Patron, though, they simply shook their aged heads. "Child, you have much to learn. You may be twenty-one, but you are still naïve," Matron would say. Then Patron would follow that up with, "Outsiders would misuse and abuse the Fountain's gifts. In fact, they already do. Hopefully you'll never have to see this firsthand, but trust us, Hannah--It would be the end of us if Outsiders found our Fountain."_

_Another shout, much closer this time, followed by a reptilian roar and a different shout, disrupted her thoughts. She knew that roar anywhere--the Outsiders must have accidentally stepped into a Ghagigandhi's nesting ground. A deeper version of the earlier roar confirmed this; the Outsiders, whoever they were, were getting attacked by a mother Ghagigandhi guarding her eggs, and her mate who was guarding _her_. She picked up the pace of her running, leaping over tree roots and ducking to avoid branches when necessary. If she didn't hurry, the Outsiders were doomed._

Reno yawned and continued climbing up the stairs to his Junon apartment, arms laden with groceries. He hadn't slept yet, and was eager to get the morning (or rather, since he was a night owl by nature, the 'evening') over with so he could hit the sack…Hence, the 0600-hour-ish grocery run. As for his mission, he knew Hannah would be safe today, thanks to the events of yesterday. All that was left was to get to his door, open it, put the groceries away, then plop onto the nearest semi-comfortable object (be that his couch, his computer chair, or hell, even the carpeted floor of his living room) and get some much-needed shut-eye.

When he got to his floor, however, he noticed that his apartment door was standing wide open. Immediately the drowsiness wore off and he quietly set down his groceries so he could reach into his pocket for his EMR. He pulled it out and swung it slightly to get it fully extended, then proceeded cautiously toward the doorway.

This wouldn't have been the first time he'd been burglarized…But it would have been the first time he'd seen a burglar dumb enough to hit a building owned and run by Shin-Ra. Growing up in the slums, he'd encountered some pretty dumb people…But no one that dumb.

Once he was in the doorway, he could hear voices. The first one he heard sounded old and rough, like an old soldier aged even more by battle. The second was childlike and oddly distorted, like it was coming through a microphone.

"You're sure this is the place, kid?"

"How else would we have gotten in if it wasn't, Ice?"

"Hmph. I expected something a little nicer than this dump…"

"I dunno…It seems to me that someone may already be staying here."

"That's nonsense, Fishbowl. Why would Shin-Ra send us to one bedroom apartment if there was already someone here?"

"Then why am I picking up residual heat signals on the couch and whatnot? And why is the computer on, then?"

"…Shut up, you junk heap whippersnapper."

"You old fart, no one says 'whippersnapper' anymore! And who are you calling a junk heap, you sexagenarian dim-wit!"

Reno, who had snuck inside during the conversation, could finally see the two intruders.

He had been correct on his guesses; one looked to indeed be an old, battle-worn soldier, and the other was shorter and smaller, like a child. The older one could've been anywhere from his mid-fifties to his late sixties and sported a thick white mustache, angular features, and a monocle on his left eye. He looked like his face was stuck in a constant glower. The younger one was wearing what looked to Reno to be a space suit of some kind, glass dome helmet and all. What further perplexed him were the boy's hands--They were robotic. Upon closer examination, much of him stuck Reno as man-made, giving him the appearance of a cyborg.

'_Okay, so what are G.I. Joe and RoboKid doing in my apartment?'_

"Why you little--" Suddenly, the old soldier (the kid had called him Ice) looked up. "…Fishbowl?"

"…I feel it, too, Ice…"

Without warning, Fishbowl spun around and slammed his mechanical right arm into Reno's throat, pinning the redhead against a wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him and caused him to drop his EMR. Ice joined his comrade and put a large, military-issue knife to Reno's neck.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Fishbowl asked, his voice deeper with seriousness.

"Who am--Who the hell are _you?! _I live here, you jackasses! What are you two doing in my apartment, yo!?" Reno managed to say angrily, despite the cold metal fingers threatening to crush his windpipe. 

"You didn't answer the questions, redhead. Who are you and what are you doing here!?" Ice hissed as he pressed the knife against Reno's skin, nearly cutting it.

"Alright, alright! I'm Reno Rosetti, and I work in Shin-Ra's Administrative Research Department. My I.D. card is over there by the computer if you don't believe me, yo. I'm here in Junon on assignment, but I can't discuss my mission with non-Shin-Ra personnel."

"A Turk, huh? Ice, would you kindly go check that I.D. card while I hold him, please and thank you?"

"…" Ice lowered his knife and walked over to Reno's computer desk, finding the said I.D. card and reading from it. "'Rosetti, Reno A.; Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, Military Branch, Department in Administrative Research; Cleared for access to all floors in the Midgar building.' Hmm…The picture matches." Ice scrutinized the card, looking for faults, and, finding none, said, "…And it doesn't appear to be counterfeit. Let him go, Fishbowl--he may be a punk, but he's not a liar."

Fishbowl released Reno and stepped back, giving the young Turk a chance to catch his breath and pick up his weapon. He rubbed his neck where the robotic arm had clamped it while the owner of the arm smirked and turned toward Ice.

"I TOLD you there was someone living here!" he jibed, voice childish again. "I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!"

"Can it, brat, and show the Turk our identification."

Pouting for being chided, the robot-like boy opened up a compartment on/in his left arm (Reno couldn't help but stare at this) and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out two I.D. cards similar to Reno's, which he handed to the redhead before closing his arm up again. The Turk read over the cards to himself.

'_Okie-dokie, they're from the Company…Now, let's see where in the Company, 'cause I sure as hell don't know them. 'Ice; Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, Military/Science/Weapon Development Branches; PRIME, First Commander No. 3; Head of Unit IV; Cleared for access to all floors in the Midgar Building and access to all areas of the remote headquarters. Note: Also cleared for access to confidential files.', 'Fishbowl; Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, Military/Science/Weapon Development Branches; PRIME, Third Commander No. 2; Head of Unit VIII; Cleared for access to all floors in the Midgar Building and access to all areas of the remote headquarters. Note: Also cleared for access to confidential files.' …Hold on a sec……_ "PRIME!? You two are officers in PRIME?! Sweet Ramuh, what are two PRIME Commanders doing here, yo?!!?"

"You first, Turk. You tell us your assignment, and we might tell you ours," Ice said coldly.

After staring at the two of them in awe _(PRIME, here!!!)_ he went and closed his apartment door, deciding to go and get his groceries out of the hall later, and turned to them to begin explaining himself. They were his superiors, after all. "…My assignment is 'Mission: Guard'. My duties are to protect SOLDIER Cadet Number 177395, Hannah L. Tenofski, while she's in the Academy and protect her from preventable harm while she rises through the ranks of SOLDIER."

"Oh, I get it now! _That's_ why the Company sent us here!" Fishbowl exclaimed. "It keeps costs down if people on the same assignment stay in the same living quarters!"

That statement caught Reno off guard. "Wait, what?"

"That's our mission, too. We're to look after the girl while she's in training. Looks like she's going to need it, too, now that she's crossed SOLDIER's pride and joy," Ice clarified.

Reno was flabbergasted. Had news of Hannah's escapades reached the remote headquarters, where PRIME was (rumored to be) stationed, already?

Ice saw his expression and laughed. "Don't look so shocked, kid. We know about her misadventures because she's our responsibility. We're the one's that found her, after all."

Now Reno was confused. "…No, me and Rude found her…"

"Technically, you may have _seen_ her first, but we're the ones that _brought_ her to the Company. So, too bad, you shouldn't have let her go. She counts toward our score now," Fishbowl pointed out matter-of-factly.

The 'score' he had referred to was something of Shin-Ra Electric Power Company's version of an inside joke. The employees from the various departments of the Company's military, science, and weapon development branches had a bit of a contest going to see which department could get more people recruited for SOLDIER, and whose recruits got higher ranks. The Turks and PRIME had long been running neck-and-neck in this contest, but with Hannah, PRIME had just pulled ahead. But Reno didn't care about that right now--he had almost forgotten about that silly little contest.

He opened his mouth to say something along the lines of "When the hell did she run into you guys, yo?" when Ice cut him off.

"I know what you're going to ask--don't. It's none of your business. All you need to know is that PRIME and The Administrative Research Department aren't trying to get into a turf war over this woman, and therefore we should just do what our bosses want and work together to accomplish 'Mission: Guard'. Look at the three of us--Fishbowl can't go out in public without attracting attention, you couldn't defeat Sephiroth if your life (or rater, Hannah's life) depended on it, and I have no patience for the bureaucratic bullshit that comes along with an assignment like this. So, like it or not, I'm going to have to work with a whiny brat and a transvestite pincushion, and you'll have to put up with this stubborn old goat."

"……Fine. Whatever," Reno said, slightly annoyed by the insult. "We'll work together, and you two can stay here. It's not like I have the power or authority to kick you two out anyway, yo…"

"Exactly. Now, there's only one question…" Fishbowl said.

"And that is…?" Ice said exasperatedly.

"This is a one bedroom apartment…Who's going to sleep where?"

Reno chuckled wryly and sat down on the couch while the two interlopers began arguing again. He tuned them out and let his sleep-deprived mind wander.

'_So, she ran into PRIME after she left us…I wonder what happened between her and them…PRIME's not known for leaving survivors, so how did she end up impressing them enough to live and get sent to the Academy? I knew she had potential, but she refused our offer to come with us back to Midgar. I was shocked when I learned she was being put into the Academy…I mean, why, though? What made her change her mind?'_

His brain summoned the image of Hannah with long, flowing maroon hair, wielding a handmade spear and wearing clothes made of large leaves and vines. A wild woman…he liked that image. It was difficult to see her look so…'civilized' was the wrong word, as her small village was anything but 'uncivilized'. Perhaps a better word would be 'artificial'.

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_I'll get the rest of this act posted as soon as I can. I have most of it wriiten out (by virtue of boredom in my English III and Spanish I classes), but not typed (because of a faulty computer and too much homework). I hope you liked what I have of it so far. Please Review, I love hearing from people, and you all give me ideas! 'Til next time!_


	5. Rewrite Teaser

_A/N - I must apologize to everyone who followed this story. Firstly, it's been too damn long since I updated. Secondly, I feel that as the writer I am now I cannot continue it in its current form._

_So, I'll be rewriting it. So far so good, I think. For some reason or another my brain is working backwards and jumping around, so I have the ending written out and some random parts throughout but no beginning, even though I know how it begins. Excuse me for being derpy about it._

_Anyway, as an apology to everyone who followed the original First Order, here's the ENDING of the rewrite. Yep. I'm handing you the epilogue before you ever even see what I've actually changed about the story. :P Well, you might get the gist of some of the things I changed...but that's not the point._

_The point is I'm back. Kind of. Sort of._

_Anyway.  
_

_Obviously much confusion is to follow but bear with me. This story - and therefore this Epilogue - will be taken down once I have the Prologue of the rewrite ready to publish._

First Order

_Epilogue_

Something was...different now. What had changed? The atmosphere was oppressive and seemed to carry a charge, but why? Zack Fair shook the last vestiges of sleep from his mind and body, causing the old box-spring and headboard to creak in protest.

How long had he been asleep? Daylight shone stubbornly through the dingy window opposite the bed. Daylight...at least twelve hours had passed then, maybe more. That was unlike him. Then again, this whole ordeal had worn him down, and Hannah's reassurance that she'd take care of things had let him finally rest without being kept awake by worry. Wait...

Blue eyes focused their attention to the room across the hall. The door was ajar and the bed hadn't been slept in; the layer of dirt on top of it hadn't even been disturbed. So Hannah hadn't come back. Ever the optimist, his mind searched for excuses. Ramuh knew she was a cleanly woman, and perhaps she'd retired at the hotel rather than sleep in this mess. Or maybe she, like their General, had fallen asleep downstairs. Then again, when had he ever seen her sleep at all? For all he knew she was out keeping the population of Nibel Wolves under control.

Try as he might though the feeling in his gut wouldn't go away. As a SOLDIER First Class, he'd learned his instincts were right more often than not. Right now ever fiber of his being was screaming at him that something was very, very wrong and that he needed to get off his ass to go find out what. Somewhat reluctantly he swung his feet to the floor and stood. _All right then, self, where is this bad feeling coming from? _That was an easy question to answer. He made sure to grab his Buster Sword on his way out of the room, not knowing what he would find.

It wasn't long before he was standing in front of the bookcase that 'concealed' a not-very-secret passage to the basement of this old mansion. He began to push it to the side to reveal the staircase and stopped cold, rooted to the spot. Echoing up from the stony depths was a sound he thought he'd heard once in a nightmare, or perhaps a horror flick: dark, bitter, and empty laughter with a sharp edge of mania, an unfamiliar noise carried on a familiar voice. _Sephiroth?_ Zack snapped out of his reverie and gave the bookcase a mighty shove so he could descend the stairs behind them.

The smell of blood caught his nose, causing it to wrinkle slightly. He allowed his eyes to adjust to the lack of light so he could examine his surroundings better. A battle had taken place on this spiral staircase. Blood had been splashed on the walls and pooled on some of the stairs, and some of these pools had been disturbed by boots, tracking the substance everywhere. As a trained observer he was able to surmise that the fight had started in the middle of the stairs and worked its way downward, the trail being marked by more than blood spatters and red footprints - here and there were holes he knew to be the final resting place of bullets in the stone and wood, alongside deep gashes caused by steel blades swung with inhuman force and craters made by fists, heads, whole bodies. Whatever had happened here had been brutal and most assuredly had to have been noisy. How in Ifrit's Hellfire had he slept through something like this? Again the laughter came and he had his answer; at some point the mansion's basement had been soundproofed.

The sheer amount of the congealing fluid he saw on his way down told him there had been several people involved, for two, three, or even four of the best SOLDIER operatives or Turks could not lose this much blood and continue to fight. It also gave him a timeline of the violence, as the blood wasn't completely dry in some spots. Mentally he kicked himself. If he'd woken up four or five hours earlier like a normal human being he'd have seen this battle firsthand. At last he reached the bottom and was greeted with much the same in the hall.

As he walked forward cautiously he heard his boots crunch on something that sounded like glass. Gently he lifted a foot. He'd stepped on a green shard that was losing the inner glow it once contained, returning to the Lifestream whence it had been forged. He crouched to examine the floor, which he realized was littered with these fragments. Gingerly so as not to cut himself through the gloves he picked up a piece. Even though the power was fading, he was able to feel enough of it flow into him to identify it.

Once, this had been the glowing orb of a high-level Restore materia, the kind that had consistently thrown out the life-saving spells of Curaga and Regen. Curious, he picked up another piece. A different power came to him. This other piece had been a similarly-leveled Revive materia, a miracle all its own that could reverse death if used soon enough. He wondered how and why they'd been broken. Was it a deliberate act to prevent a long, drawn out conflict? Did an accident happen when the armlet these may have been slotted in was used to block an attack?

Out of the corner of his eye he saw white. If he hadn't been stooped to look at the broken materia he'd never have seen it at all. Fearing an ambush, he pulled Buster Sword off his back and prepared to face an assailant. Only it wasn't an assailant he saw when he turned slightly to face the source of the color. His jaw dropped. "..._Hannah?_"

She'd been posed so as to sit against the wall under the stairs with her hands in her lap, head bent forward as if in prayer. This made her hair fall and obscure her face slightly, but he didn't have to see her face to know her condition. That was made all too obvious by the wound in her abdomen, starting just above her navel and cutting through her left side, cleanly and completely. She'd been halfway cut in half. Instantly he rushed to his comrade's side, already seeing it was too late but not wanting to believe what his eyes were showing him. "Bahamut's Breath, Hannah!" he swore.

With hands that shook slightly he brushed some of the almost maroon locks out of her face. Her eyes were closed and her features were frozen into a countenance of grim resolve. She hadn't passed instantly, lived long enough to know she was dying and couldn't do a damn thing about it. She must've been in pain but had tried, even in her last moments, to not let it show. Zack swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. Not now, he couldn't mourn her now. He had to know who did this and why...had to hold someone accountable for this.

He did his best to detach himself for a moment so he could look at this as analytically as he had the scene in the stairway. It wasn't hard to see what kind of weapon had caused it - a blade, something long and stupidly sharp, had pierced her right above the navel. No, 'pierced' wasn't the right word. 'Impaled' was closer, as he could see signs that her weight had pulled the blade upward slightly. So she'd been 'impaled' on a long, sharp blade, was lifted off the ground for at least a few moments by it..and then that blade had been twisted so the sharper edge would slice through her left side when the proper force was applied. That means something had to have been keeping her still or she'd have moved with the blade instead of the blade cutting through her.

His mind returned to the shattered Restore and Revive around him. Suddenly he realized how they'd met their fate. Much like machine guns fired for too long without rest, the materia had overheated from extreme overuse and shattered from within. So why hadn't such powerful magics been able to work, been failing so much that the caster kept using them over and over until the orbs broke from the effort? He could only draw one conclusion. Zack clenched his fists as he remembered something Hannah herself had said when he'd just made Third Class, and she'd been a Second Class. He'd written it off back then but the words haunted him now. It was just after his first run in with the man who wasn't yet their General, who was only beginning to earn his reputation as a hero.

_ See that sword of his? The long katana he takes everywhere? He got it back in Wutai in the early days of the war. I know the Wutai are always claiming they can do some creepy mumbo-jumbo with their weapons - and believe me most of it IS mumbo-jumbo meant to scare us off - but Masamune there is the real McCoy. ...I've heard it sing, Fair. I've seen what it can do in his hands. My advice? Don't cross him. Any life that blade takes isn't given back. Period. He kills you, you're done, gone, and there's nothing on Gaia-_

"'Or the Promised Land that anyone can do to save your sorry ass'," he finished with a whisper. He closed his eyes to gather his composure. There was no doubt about Hannah's demise. Sephiroth, their leader, their comrade, and their friend, had killed her. Who, then, had tried to save her? She obviously couldn't have cast the magics on herself, right? His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of movement down the hall.

Sephiroth was still down here. He was going to make the silver-haired man answer for this, one way or another. Keeping Buster in his hand, he stood and made his way toward the library.

When he got there he wasn't really prepared for the sight that met him.

Every single book had been pulled from its shelf, and the objects lay in piles all over the floor, tables, and desks. There was blood here, but not much, and it all lead to one location, and in that one location stood a man. Sephiroth was leaning against one of the empty bookcases, shoulders heaving in silent laughter, silver strands cascading down to hide his face. The man was absolutely drenched in blood, so much so that parts of his hair (something he was infamous for keeping clean and combed, Zack thought with a kind of horror) were crimson instead of silver, and his black leather had a kind of sick shine on most of the outfit. Based on the wounds he sported, at least some of it was his own. Masamune was tied to its usual place by his side. It too was painted red. The smell of it down here in this enclosed space was sickening.

In his right hand was Yan Yue, handle pushed in to make it look like a simple short-sword instead of the Guan Dao Zack knew it to be. The man seemed to be looking at his own reflection in the blade. That feeling in Zack's gut was stronger than ever, this time advising him to run away from Nibelheim as fast as his legs could carry him and to never look back. But he couldn't do that! He had a SOLDIER's pride and honor to consider...and not just his own at the moment.

"...Sephiroth," he began.

Slowly the SOLDIER General looked up, his gaze meeting Zack's. Instantly inner klaxons were blaring. An expression between a smirk and a sneer tugged at the corners of the General's mouth as he said, "How nice to see you...traitor."

For a moment what Sephiroth said didn't register; so preoccupied was Zack on the face that had said it and the manner in which it was said. He'd expected to see more blood splashed across the marble skin. He hadn't expected to see the evidence that his General hadn't shaved in days, nor did he expect that strange glint in his mako-colored eyes that he couldn't identify, but nothing else. And the way he spoke! It was even, quiet, and oddly calm, to be sure, but the undertones...Finally Zack realized what he'd been called. "'Traitor'?"

"Yes. You," Sephiroth pointed at him with Yan Yue here, as his left hand rested on Masamune's hilt, "are the descendant of a race of cowardly traitors, a people that only survived calamity and disaster because they ran and hid, leaving their betters to die! Once the danger was gone your kind emerged to steal Gaia away from the few survivors. The Ancients, your kind calls them. The Cetra - the 'others' - they called themselves."

Zack blinked in confusion. What could Sephiroth be talking about? "The...Cetra?"

"The superior predecessors of humanity. The rightful heirs to Gaia, long thought extinct and their influence gone forever. That is...until one was found in stasis inside a geological stratum at the North Pole. Jenova, they named her. A glorious name befitting a glorious woman, no? Alas, she remained in stasis no matter what the ShinRa tried."

The name was familiar. "...'Jenova'? As in...that locked door in the reactor?" Zack's eyes widened as he remembered where else he heard the name. "As in your-"

Sephiroth cut him off. "ShinRa, as you know, will not be deterred so easily. So they shifted their efforts from awakening her to somehow getting her powers into humans. It started with adding her cells to the mako injections given SOLDIER operatives. When that showed promise, a team of scientists got permission to see if they could create a child infused with enough of the cells before they were born to be considered a Cetra in its own right. They called it the Jenova Project." Here the General began to pace a little, not really looking at Zack as he spoke, his tone never changing from that smooth yet dark and dangerous melody. "They moved her to the Nibelheim reactor for safekeeping and began experimenting in this very basement. Who knows? Perhaps that child was conceived on that desk over there by you. When that child was not even yet a fetus, a concoction of Jenova's cells and pure mako was injected straight into the womb, and more into the woman carrying it, until nearly all traces of the original parents' DNA had been replaced by Jenova's. Months later, the child was born, confirmed to be the child of Jenova, and the Project was declared a success."

The imagery sickened the First Class SOLDIER. How could any woman allow such things to be done to herself and her child? And where was the kid's father in all that? What on Gaia had ShinRa been trying to-

"I am the result of that project."

He was sure his heart stopped for a second or two. "Y...you? Seph...?" he choked.

Sephiroth stopped pacing and looked at Zack again, that smirk/sneer twisting into a strangely serene smile. "So don't you see? I _do_ have a greater purpose in life than a lapdog for ShinRa. As a Cetra - the _last_ living Cetra - it is my duty to take back this Planet for Jenova...For my mother."

As shocked as he was by this, Zack just shook his head violently and said, "Wait, wait, forget all of that for a couple'a seconds, Sephiroth! What about Hannah? Did you kill her!"

The smile slowly faded and darkness passed over the General's face, but he didn't answer. His silence, however, was answer enough. Zack's blood boiled. "Why? Sephiroth, Hannah was your - OUR - partner! Your second-in-command! My...our friend! Our-"

"Hannah was more than that. Much more."

Zack's mouth hung open and he found himself unable to finish his sentence. With him it had always been "Tenofski", or "First Class Tenofski" or "Lieutenant Tenofski". Never once had he heard Sephiroth refer to her by her first name. And the man's tone had changed, a subtle shift in the kind of darkness that ran in its undercurrents. It was only then he noticed the broken Gold Armlet that lay on the nearby table, two of the materia slots partially melted with little pieces of green caught in the metal. He saw it because he saw the corresponding wound on Sephiroth's right arm, a burn with little chunks of the shattered materia buried in it.

He'd heard the rumors. Hell, you'd have to be deaf to not have heard them, and in those cases there was a ShinRa gossip newsletter you could sign up for. Hannah's mere existence often sent the members of the Silver Elite into fangirlish fits of jealous rage, and they weren't the only ones who suspected something. However, he'd never seen anything but respect between the two, with maybe a touch of rivalry. No, wait, that'd be a lie. He'd seen a deep camaraderie and real friendship too in those few unguarded moments he somehow always managed to interrupt. Maybe he'd been fooled by their decorum.

His General kept talking, the shift in his mood obvious, "And even more than _that_. Down here in this Goddess-forsaken library...We learned we were brethren. Almost...siblings."

For the umpteenth time since starting this conversation Zack found himself unable to comment and just listened as Sephiroth continued. "Not everyone at ShinRa believed that direct infusion into a developing fetus was the wisest move. 'Unforeseen side-effects' and such. So before the Project was given permission to move forward a separate team did experiments to uncover the nature of Jenova's cells down to the atom. They found something...surprising. Somehow, this Cetra's cells had a structure similar to viruses. That's why the injections worked to enhance the senses beyond what mako alone could do, as the host's cells were slowly taken over and turned into Jenova's cells. So theoretically...anyone who had ever come into contact with her was 'infected' by her. What would happen if...two 'heavily infected' humans were to procreate? What of the child? In theory, the result would be similar to the Jenova Project, but as the child would be conceived as the child of Jenova instead of forcibly made into one...Well. ShinRa wanted to compare the two side by side eventually, but wished for this other Project - S part B, as it was referred to - to be completed first to collect the data so the Jenova Project's scientists wouldn't be flying blind. Unfortunately the subjects had gone missing. That's why the Jenova Project was given permission to move forward without much data on the side-effects of a human carrying a Cetra child."

Memories of Hannah's village, where everyone in the same age bracket looked related, shot through his mind. Their distrust of the SOLDIER operatives, their sheer terror at seeing the ShinRa logo, their insistence that they all leave and never return despite Hannah's protest that he and Sephiroth were good people...it all made sense now, as did her reported jump in ability when she started receiving regular mako injections upon becoming First Class.

Sephiroth looked at him, his catlike eyes hollow. "I see what you are contemplating; it certainly does explain much about her, doesn't it? My little mystery, finally solved. To think...she was Jenova's daughter, and I am Jenova's son...I wonder what Mother thinks about all this. She's probably disappointed in me, letting my sister die when we were supposed to take the Planet back together. ...No."

With the last word his tone shifted again and he began to pace once more, animatedly this time. "No, Mother won't be disappointed! As a Cetra that has returned to her Planet, Hannah's consciousness lives on in the Lifestream...So if I take Gaia back, as is my duty, and become its one true heir...I could call her back. Yes! Once I create a world that she and Mother can be proud of, I can will her back to my side, and together we can rule as royalty, even gods, forging a beautiful future!"

It was beyond clear at that point to First Class SOLDIER Operative Zack Fair that First Class SOLDIER General Sephiroth was suffering nothing short of a complete nervous breakdown. The brilliant tactician that had won a war almost single-handedly might have still been there, but if he was he was buried underneath the shattered remains of the rest of his psyche. Breaking into a cold sweat, Zack realized just what that odd glint had been. It was psychosis. The man before him had gone mad.

"...Sephiroth," Zack said slowly, trying to keep his cool, "Listen to me. You...need help. You and I, we're gonna walk out of here and get you cleaned up. Then we're going straight back to HQ. Okay?"

That smile, at once calm and maniacal, returned to the General's lips. "No, Zack. The only place I'm going...Is to see my mother."

-LINE-

Hours later, long after the fires had been put out, the bookcase slid back once again to reveal its not-so-secret stairs. How long had it been since he'd been here? Twenty years? Twenty-five? Closer to twenty-five, he concluded. Never did he guess he'd have to be back.

He sighed in disappointment. After all the work he did, the Jenova Project had just utterly failed. Killed by a mere cadet, from the looks of things. Perhaps it was the woman. Yes, that had to be it. They hadn't eradicated every trace of the child's original mother - the specimen's eye color had proven as much. It was the birth-mother's weak genes, inferior DNA that caused this precious Project to fail. If he knew where to find that stupid, weak excuse for a woman he'd kill her himself.

In a way, he almost regretted ordering PRIME to dispatch of S part B earlier. If he'd known what was to become of his own specimen...He shook his head. No point wondering what-if's and maybes. He only had the facts and data of now to work with. He'd salvage this Project if it was the last thing he did. After all, he now had plenty of subjects and a perfect cover. If these poor saps were supposed to be dead no one would ever come looking for them now would they?

Behind him he heard his lackeys struggle to carry all of the survivors down the stairs. He also heard them mumble something about the stairs being slick because of blood. So they were. Interesting. Perhaps he'd be able to salvage some useful data from it. He made a mental note to try to do just that later, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs his attention was captured by the green glint of a shattered materia stone. He bent down to pick up a piece, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. That's when he saw her. A grin formed on his face as he walked over to her.

S part B wasn't completely destroyed, then. Wonderful. The data he'd be able to extract from her body would be enough to cover the original flaw of the Jenova Project, the lack of information on the side effects of the generational passing of Cetra abilities in humans. Not that Jenova was a Cetra. This secret knowledge caused him to chuckle to himself. Gast had discovered this fact, but he'd stopped the fool from making it public. Jenova was superior to even the Cetra, was the Calamity that had killed them off. The Jenova Project's result had been about seven, perhaps eight years old at the time of this discovery, and at first as the lead scientist he'd felt disappointed, cheated even.

But why bother with the Cetra when he'd created a being that was far superior to even them, he soon realized? So he'd continued the Project, watching the specimen grow ever stronger...until today. Again he cursed that stupid woman and her weak blood. As he touched S part B to examine the extent of the damage he noticed something odd. She'd been dead for a while, and yet rigor hadn't ever set in. Why?

Just to be sure he took her pulse. Nothing. And yet...Something stirred just beneath the surface. Perhaps...The Calamity within wasn't quite ready to die.

He got the attention of one of his men. "You. Fetch some mako, purest you can get your hands on. Put it in a syringe and bring it here."

The man saluted and ran off. He continued to look her over - if what he believed to be true was indeed true, he needed to make sure there were no other defects, nothing else that would have killed her. The gears of his mind were spinning at top speed: Jenova is more than a virus, perhaps when gathered in clumps it can be a parasite, how intriguing that it can change what type of life-form it is to suit the situation, so that Cetra specimen wasn't just passing down tales when she spoke of shape-shifting, this could change -

Presently the man returned with the mako he'd requested. Without ado he injected it into S part B's abdomen next to the wound. For a moment nothing happened. Just when he was ready to stand and curse again the wound began to heal, the Jenova cells using the mako's power to stitch their host back together. He smiled and turned back to the man, handing him the syringe.

"Refill it. And bring a Restore materia when you come back. Also a Revive just in case. Wait, get some x-potions and a phoenix down or two as well. This is uncharted territory - I'm trying to reverse the irreversible!"

While he never took much stock in magic he couldn't deny the powers materia could conjure. As such he'd learned to grudgingly respect its laws while all the time trying to find scientific loopholes. He knew what had become of S part B because of the report PRIME had delivered to him earlier that day, that she'd met her fate on the end of a magically-enhanced blade. A sword with a spell to never give back the life it stole, at least not by means available to humanity or the Cetra. But then, the writers of this spell had never anticipated an alien being, had they?

When his lackey returned he first injected more mako, then used the phoenix down, watching the precious feather slowly combust as it touched her skin, keeping a finger pressed to her pulse point all the while. For a moment, a brief second, there was a thump. However, it quickly ceased. He could almost _hear_ Jenova scream in rage. This time he had the grunt cast Lifega. The pulse was stronger but fading. Quickly he forced the glowing liquid of the x-potion down the specimens throat.

There were a few seconds of silence as her pulse became steady. It was broken when S part B inhaled, then exhaled, reestablishing the normal pattern of breathing.

Jenova's tenacity and will to survive was neither of Gaia nor the Promised Land. The spell was broken and the specimen's life returned. Just for good measure he had the grunt cast several rounds of Curaga and a Regen before he ordered the man to pick her up and put her with the others. As the man stooped to grab her she suddenly awoke, lashing out with a cry.

The poor thing was in shock, probably still feeling the pain of death. He withdrew a Tranquilizer from her coat pocket and injected it into her while his assistant held her down. When she was pacified enough to not fight back, he cupped her chin with one hand and forced her to look at him.

-LINE-

She didn't understand. It had been warm and comforting and there had been a beautiful green glow, with voices she knew and voices she didn't but sounded friendly beckoning her. She'd been trying to go for hours. Finding that something wasn't letting her she tried to return. But she couldn't do that either.

She'd been stuck in this frustrating limbo for what seemed like an eternity, the warmth and comfort pulling her one way some something else trying to pull her back, neither side relenting...

Until she'd felt a familiar, angry burn in veins that were no longer hers, threatening to corrode her from the inside out. A sensation that had been part of her life, the part of her life that perhaps she'd hated the most.

Mako.

She'd screamed into the darkness for help, and that green glow had rushed to her aid to try and pull her with it. But wasn't that green glow mako? No, she felt, it wasn't. It was the Lifestream. And DAMMIT something was trying to keep her from joining it! Something with an energy that was now being enhanced by mako! This wasn't like earlier when she'd felt the glow of magic rush over her again and again. No, this was something internal. Something inside her, in her own body was betraying her.

And then came more mako. With a triumphant scream that wasn't quite hers ringing in her ears she'd been pulled back. But not for long if she could help it. She fought her own body, resisted letting it live. She'd felt the heat of a phoenix down and ignored its call. _No, I'm dead, this is what I want! I'm not in pain anymore! Please, let me go!_

This time the glow of magic came again and she was slammed back into her body with a painful force. She used the last bit of her strength of will to resist, but when your own body is ignoring you...

The familiar, overly-sweet liquid came cascading down her throat next. An x-potion. She tried so hard to gag, to spit it out but her body just would not obey. Life returned to her, and with it pain.

So.

Much.

Pain.

The mako coursing through her system, burning everything it touched. The x-potions' artificial life following it, rubbing her insides raw. The pain of the wound that had killed her, gone now but definitely not forgotten. Her senses in overdrive, tasting and smelling and feeling too much. More magic rushed over her. Curaga. Regen. They helped a little. But the pain was more then physical.

Why? She'd spent the last few moments of her life preparing for death, learned that death was much preferable to life, and then was forced back into it. Why was her body doing this?

_ You need to live,_ she told herself. Or did she? _You need to live for the Reunion._

What in Ifrit's Hellfire was this 'Reunion' shit? Where had that thought come from? It was hers...but it _wasn't_, and that frightened her. So of course she jumped and fought and kicked and screamed with someone or something tried to pick her up. She hadn't expected the next substance that was injected into her however. Soothing, but ice-like and numbing as well.

A Tranquilizer. Within seconds her body stopped responding to her commands for movement and her thinking became sluggish. _Damn..._

Something cold and clammy was on her chin then, making her look up. She blinked and actually saw for the first time since "coming back". Even in this darkness it was almost too bright. When she could actually comprehend the sight before her through eyelids that were getting far too heavy, she wanted to sob in fear. Wanted to call out for help. Wanted to scream for Sephiroth. Where was he? Why would he allow this to happen? He'd sworn to her this man would never touch her so long as he lived, and yet-

Professor Simon Hojo must've seen her fear, for he smiled that sick and twisted smile of his and said, "Welcome back, Miss Tenofski. Or should I call you by your proper name, S-part-B? No matter. We'll have plenty of time to discuss it. You and I..."

She heard the most terrifying sound in all her life come from him then. A heartless cackle, a noise that shook her more than all the death-screams that once kept her up at night. In it she sensed all his intent and his words were the last thing to impress themselves on her consciousness before she mercifully blacked out from the drug's effects.

"...Have much work to do."

-Fin

_A/N - Heh. I know, it sucks. But did you really expect it to end differently, what with the whole main game and the movie left to cover? So, to answer a question someone asked in a review long ago - "This story begins before the war with Wutai even starts. In fact, in the rewrite, it begins before Sephiroth is even First Class."_

_Some slight to moderate AU is possible in the rewrite. Blame my only-secondhand-knowledge of Crisis Core and the events therin. For example, in my crazy picture of things, Sephiroth did some brilliant stuff in the early days of the war that earned him his promotion to First Class, his rep as the Demon of Wutai, and a fan club. The war is long - several years - and by the time Zack rolls onto the scene Sephiroth is nigh-on legendary as a hero. When they wrap things up in Wutai he gets promoted to the General of SOLDIER. I'm not sure if that's how the canon actually goes but that's what I'm going with. See what I mean by slight-to-moderate AU? None of the major events will change significantly - as this epilogue confirms - but some small details may be off. Other than what they would be by Hannah's presence at all, I mean._

_No more begging for reviews. I'm a big girl now. :B Not that I don't want them, mind you..._


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